Kraft to Be Renamed Mondelez After Grocery Unit Is Spun Off

March 21 (Bloomberg) -- Kraft Foods Inc., the food
manufacturer spinning off its grocery business later this year,
will change its name to Mondelez International Inc. after the
split as it seeks a new identity as a global snacks company.

Pronounced “Mohn-dah-LEEZ,” the new name is a combination
of the Latin word for “world” and an expression meant to evoke
the word “delicious,” Northfield, Illinois-based Kraft said
today in a statement. The grocery business will be named Kraft
Foods Group Inc.

Mondelez will be strictly a corporate name on the back of
packages of such snack foods as Oreo cookies and Newtons snacks.
After the split, the snacks business will market those brands
directly to consumers and Mondelez will remain in the
background.

“The intention is for Mondelez to be a corporate name,”
Michael Mitchell, a Kraft spokesman, said in a phone interview.
“It won’t be a consumer-facing name.”

Mondelez will retain the Kraft name on some products, such
as Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese, for an undetermined period
of time after the split, Mitchell said. Mondelez will pay a
royalty to the Kraft grocery business. After that period of time
expires, Mondelez won’t take the place of the Kraft name.

In the case of the Philadelphia brand, at some point in the
future neither Kraft not Mondelez will be on the front of the
cream cheese packaging. That will be true of any brand using the
Kraft name now that Mondelez will own after the split.

Employee Suggestions

Kraft asked employees to suggest names, and more than 1,000
participated, submitting more than 1,700 potential names, the
company said. The inspiration for Mondelez came from two
employees, one in Europe and another in North America.

Kraft, the world’s second-largest food manufacturer, is
splitting up to help the snacks business push products into
emerging markets and make additional acquisitions. The slower-growing, higher-margin grocery business will continue working to
expand in the U.S. and return cash to shareholders.

Kraft fell 0.2 percent to $38.29 at 10:43 a.m. in New York.
The shares gained 2.6 percent this year before today.